RetroSimba

(Updated Oct. 9, 2022)

Among the top five on the Cardinals career strikeout list, one name stands out as a shining example of why persistence and reliability matter. Bob Forsch hardly was a strikeout artist, but he ranks with Bob Gibson, Adam Wainwright, Dizzy Dean and Chris Carpenter as being among the best in franchise history.

Of the top five strikeout pitchers among Cardinals, Forsch is the only one who never recorded as many as 190 strikeouts in a season. He never even came close.

In 15 seasons with the Cardinals, Forsch struck out 100 or more batters three times. His season-high was 114 in 1978. That also was the season he had his worst won-loss record with the Cardinals: 11-17.

The top Cardinals strikeout leaders are Gibson (3,117), Wainwright (2,147), Dean (1,095), Carpenter (1,085) and Forsch (1,079).

Gibson struck out 200 or more batters nine times. His career best was 274 in 1970. He led the National League with 268 in 1968. Gibson won the NL Cy Young Award in both years.

Dean achieved 190 or more strikeouts in five consecutive seasons: 1932 (191), 1933 (199), 1934 (195), 1935 (190) and 1936 (195). He led the NL for four consecutive years (1932-35).

Carpenter’s career high in strikeouts (213) helped earn him the Cy Young Award in 2005 with the Cardinals.

Wainwright had more than 200 strikeouts in a season three times: 212 in 2009, 213 in 2010 and 219 in 2013.

Forsch never led the Cardinals, let alone the NL, in strikeouts in any season.

Forsch’s single-game high in strikeouts came on April 12, 1978, in his second start of the season. Forsch pitched a complete-game four-hitter and struck out nine in the Cardinals’ 5-1 victory over the Pirates at St. Louis. In the ninth, the Pirates had two on with two outs when Forsch struck out third baseman Phil Garner with a hard slider for the third time to seal the win. Boxscore

“He was just showing us the fastball and going with a lot of off-speed stuff to get us out,” Pirates outfielder Dave Parker told the Associated Press.

Said Forsch to a reporter for United Press International: “I don’t think I gave in to anybody.”

Four days later, Forsch pitched the first of his two career no-hitters. On April 16, 1978, at St. Louis, Forsch struck out three and allowed no hits in the Cardinals’ 5-0 victory over the Phillies. Boxscore

(In his other no-hitter, Sept. 26, 1983, Forsch struck out six in the Cardinals’ 3-0 victory over the Expos at St. Louis. The sixth victim, pinch-hitter Terry Crowley, was ejected by umpire Harry Wendelstedt for arguing a called third strike leading off the ninth. Boxscore ).

Perhaps Forsch’s most dominant strikeout performance came against the Cubs on Sept. 20, 1987. Forsch started, pitched 5.2 innings before leaving with a groin strain and got the win in the Cardinals’ 10-2 victory over Greg Maddux in St. Louis. Of the 17 outs recorded by Forsch, eight were by strikeouts, an unusually high number for a 37-year-old right-hander better known for pitching to contact. Boxscore